Cuban Mother Demands Justice After Son's Death in ICE Custody in Georgia

Lourdes González Suárez, the grieving mother of 33-year-old Denny Adán González, who tragically passed away on April 28 while detained at an immigration facility in Georgia under the custody of U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), is calling for justice and a "thorough and comprehensive" investigation to uncover the circumstances surrounding her son's death.

On Monday, González shared a heartfelt statement with CiberCuba, expressing her profound sorrow over the loss of her son. She urged for an independent and transparent inquiry into the events leading to the tragic outcome at the Stewart Detention Center in Lumpkin.

"My son was more than just a file or a number. He was a person with dreams, a family, and a future that was tragically cut short," González wrote. "The pain I feel is indescribable. Losing him has taken a part of my life that can never be recovered. His absence has left an irreparable void in our family."

González revealed that the family was informed of an incident involving a staff member the day before her son died, after which he was moved to a cell. "I demand that this incident be thoroughly and transparently clarified, as it is crucial to understanding what happened," she stated.

"As a mother, I need to know the truth. I cannot accept uncertainty or incomplete explanations. I demand a serious and exhaustive investigation to determine exactly what occurred and under what circumstances," González insisted. "Behind this death is a devastated family and many unanswered questions."

She also made "a call to the world" to ensure her son's story is not silenced, urging people to share her statement "not to incite conflict, but to bring the truth to light and prevent such events from happening again." "No mother should experience this pain," she lamented. "Today, I mourn my son, knowing I will never embrace him again, but I will fight to uncover the truth so that other mothers can hold their children."

On May 1, three days following Denny Adán González's death, ICE released an official statement disclosing the incident. The statement mentioned the "suspicion" that his death was a suicide, though it noted that the "official cause remains under investigation."

ICE detailed that Denny Adán was found unresponsive in his cell around 10:25 p.m. by CoreCivic staff, the private company operating the facility; restraint tools were used, and CPR was administered.

Emergency Medical Services from Webster County continued resuscitation efforts, but he was declared dead at 11:11 p.m., 46 minutes after being discovered.

Background and Arrest of Denny Adán González

Denny Adán González first entered the United States in May 2019 through the Hidalgo, Texas port of entry, where Customs and Border Protection (CBP) detained him and declared him inadmissible.

An immigration judge ordered his deportation to Cuba in December of that year, and he was expelled in January 2020. However, he re-entered the country illegally in April 2022, where he was intercepted by Border Patrol in El Paso, Texas. He was later released under supervision, required to report periodically to ICE in Charlotte, North Carolina, until September 2025.

On December 12, 2025, González was arrested by the Mecklenburg County Sheriff's Office in Charlotte for charges of assault on a woman and domestic violence. ICE issued a detention order, transferring him to the Stewart Center in January 2026.

Alarming Statistics

Denny Adán González's death marks the eighteenth under ICE custody in 2026 and the fifth attributed to apparent suicide. He is also the third Cuban to die under federal custody this year, following Geraldo Lunas Campos—whose autopsy classified his death as a homicide by asphyxiation, contradicting ICE's official version—and Aled Damien Carbonell Betancourt, 27, who died at the Miami Federal Detention Center.

According to The Guardian, cited by Telemundo, Denny Adán is reportedly the fourth person to have committed suicide at the Stewart Detention Center, which has a documented history of at least 13 deaths since 2006.

A study published in the medical journal JAMA on April 16 revealed that the mortality rate in ICE facilities reached historic levels: 88.9 deaths per 100,000 detainees in the fiscal year 2026, the highest in 22 years, surpassing the peak recorded during the COVID-19 pandemic.

Arrests of Cubans by ICE increased by 463% between October 2024 and the end of 2025, according to the Cato Institute.

Reactions to a Death Surrounded by Questions

The statements made by Denny Adán's mother align with documentation from investigator Andrew Free, cited by Physicians for Human Rights (PHR), who noted that González was in solitary confinement at the time of his death following an alleged altercation with a guard that left him unconscious.

The Los Angeles Times dedicated a report to the Cuban's case, describing his death as a "new tragedy" shaking the U.S. immigration system. The article highlighted that Denny Adán was "allegedly in solitary confinement at the time of his death, a practice internationally condemned as torture."

Amílcar Valencia, executive director of the organization El Refugio, told the newspaper that "Stewart Detention Center is known as one of the most deadly detention centers in the country" and called for the facility's closure and the termination of the contract with CoreCivic.

Priyanka Bhatt, an attorney with Project South, asserted that "the responsibility for the incomprehensible number of deaths lies with ICE and the private prison corporation CoreCivic."